Development chief gets ax

In her six months as economic development chief, Margaret Hunt failed to revitalize downtown and western Salt Lake City, according to Mayor Rocky Anderson.

At 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, he fired Hunt, after hiring back Alison Weyher, the city's former CED director.

When Anderson appointed Hunt in March, he said he wanted to "see her really push ahead with more mixed-use (development) and housing," including "major economic development on the west side." Almost nothing has happened in that sector, Anderson says now.

"There was not an environment for collaboration. He's not open and receptive to input," said Hunt. The mayor "does not have good listening skills. He goes right on the attack."

"The mayor's office was doing all the work," Anderson shot back. "It wasn't getting done by the CED director. We were holding numerous meetings with stakeholders: property owners, business people, real estate agents, church officials, both to formulate a shared vision and then to determine what action should be taken. She wasn't at many of the meetings."

Other city insiders said the mayor used to invite Hunt to meetings, tell her to give a briefing and then interrupt her and talk for 20 or so minutes.

"It's appalling," said City Council chairman Dave Buhler. The city's future depends on leadership, not "disarray" at the administrative level, he said. "We can't afford to have that (CED) position be a revolving door. It's a mess. This does not inspire confidence, when key people are constantly changing."

Hunt, who had been a special-projects manager at PacifiCorp in Salt Lake City, was studying art in Fort Collins, Colo., when she was tapped as an economic-development consultant during the 2002 Olympics.

She moved back to Utah permanently when Anderson offered her the CED position. Since the Winter Games, turning Greater Main Street and the west side around has been difficult, to say the least. "We simply weren't getting the results that we should have been," the mayor said.

"He wants short-term fixes," Hunt said.

Hunt added that she strove to re-create downtown as an arts and entertainment district and that some progress had been made in that direction. She also helped attract Basic Research, a manufacturer, to Salt Lake City, and was close to bringing other companies in.